Before turning with me to Judges
chapter 8, if you would look to Matthew chapter 25 with me. Matthew chapter 25, I'm going
to begin reading in verse 31. Matthew 25, 31. When the Son of Man shall come
in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he
sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd
divided his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
the right hand, but the goats on the left. And then shall the
king say unto them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. For I was a hungered and you
gave me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger and you took
me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was
sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungered and fed thee, or
thirsty and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger and
took thee in, or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick
or in prison and came unto thee? And the king shall answer and
say unto them, barely I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you've done it unto
me. Then shall he say unto them on
the left hand, depart from me. He cursed into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was a hungred,
and you gave me no meat, and I was thirsty, and you gave me
no drink. I was a stranger, and you took
me not in, naked, and you clothed me not, sick and in prison, and
you visited me not. Then shall they also answer him,
saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungred, or a thirst, or a
stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister
unto thee? And then shall he answer them,
saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you did it not to
one of the least of these, you did it not to me. And these shall
go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. In Matthew chapter 18, I won't
turn you back there, the Lord's speaking, concerning the little
children, he said, who shall ever receive one such little
child in my name receiveth me? But whoso shall offend one of
these little ones which believe in me, it would better for him
that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he was
drowned in the depth of the sea. Now those little children are
you. Those who believe in Christ, you're His children. And with
the Lord, it's no insignificant matter, as we've seen from these
verses, to treat His people, His children, badly. Our Lord
takes it personal, very personal. Now, to Judges chapter eight. Last study, we saw that the men
of Succoth and Peniel, who were of Israel, they cared little
for Gideon and his small band of 300 men, even though they
were their brethren after the flesh. Gideon and his men were
pursuing two of the Midianite kings, Ziba and Zalmunna, And
they were famished and faint, yet still pursuing. We looked
at that, what an encouragement that is to God's people. We often
grow faint, we grow weary, we grow tired, yet we still pursue. And we do so because we know
who's gone before us. We know whose victory this is. We know who's finished the work
for us. So we pursue on. And they come
to these princes at Succoth and Pineo, and Gideon asked for bread
for his men. He said, for those that follow
me. They traveled on to Pineo and received the same rejection.
They said, no. Now what's going on here? Well, the men of Succoth, were
skeptical of Gideon's ability to defeat these fleeing Midianite
army men, and they were doubtful that he would capture the two
kings. Let's just be honest about it. That's what they were. If Succoth
helped Gideon and Gideon failed, then the Midianites might come
back to Succoth and retaliate against them. And that's nothing,
and it was the same with Peniel, that's nothing but unbelief.
That's not believing that God would do what he said he would
do. God had cut their army from 35,000 down to 300. And God had
already destroyed all but 15,000 of their army by having them
turn against themselves and kill themselves. What a God. And nothing but unbelief, and
Gideon wouldn't fail because the Lord was the one fighting
the battle. And that's our encouragement. This kind of action and treatment,
well, it didn't sit well with Gideon, and it certainly didn't
sit well with the Lord of Hosts. And to such offenders, I think
how fearful the words Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith
the Lord. Oh, I tell you, I would not want
to be someone who had offended the Lord. And yet, we often do. Thank God for Christ, who covers
our sins, puts them away. Now, the history of Succoth and
Peniel is somewhat important in understanding this passage. Succoth is where the Lord began
to lead his people with the pillars of cloud and fire after they
left Egypt. It was at Succoth that was. As
a matter of fact, the Israelites celebrated this occasion every
year. But it seems that Succoth had
forgotten the gracious God that had led them. Peniel, if you
remember in our study of Exodus, was where Jacob had wrestled
with the angel who was the Lord Jesus. And I might add that he
never walked the same again, did he? And if we wrestle with
the Lord, we don't, and the Lord blesses us as he did Jacob, we
don't walk the same either by his grace. And that place was
given the name Peniel, which means I've seen the face of God. And the men of Peniel had forgotten
the face of the God of Jacob. And what a picture both Succoth
and Peniel are of the professing believer who forgets what took
place at Calvary. When we lose sight of helping
a brother in need, we lose sight of Calvary, where true love was
exhibited. Our Lord said, greater love hath
no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends. And Calvary is where our Lord
in love and mercy and grace paid the debt of sin and fool for
His people, and He set the precedent of how we should love one another. If we struggle with loving one
another, we need to better look to Calvary and see that there's
no greater love than what Christ had there for his people. The
princes of Succoth and the men of Pineal refused to help Gideon
and his men. They hailed out to see how things
would turn out. They feared that helping their
brethren might work against them. In essence, they walked by sight
and not by faith. They see these 15,000 Midianites
fleeing and just these 300 Israelites fleeing after them. And naturally
speaking, men would say, well, the odds are not in favor of
Gideon and his men. But God didn't work by the odds
of the world or man, does he? The odds were actually in their
favor since it was actually one against 15,000. Not 300, one. Just one against 15,000. And
that's always the case when the one is the Lord God of heaven
and earth. That which Succoth and Pineal
feared the most wind up coming upon them. Vengeance on the tribe
of Gad will be from the Lord. He'll repay, as we'll see. It's never, it's never a good
thing to walk by sight when God has given us the faith to see
who it is that fights for us. It's so easy for us to get, but
our, the war is over. It's finished. It's accomplished.
Yet we still fight day by day with the flesh, with the world,
with religion. So there's four things in particular
I want us to see tonight. The first thing is seen in verses
four and five, and it's probably one of the most important things
to consider in all the scriptures, and that's need, the need. Verse
four, and Gideon came to Jordan and passed over he and the 300
men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them. And he said
unto the men of Succoth, give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto
the people that follow me. Gideon was more concerned, as
I said, for his men than himself. He said, for they be faint, and
I'm pursuing after Ziba and Zalmunna, kings of Midian. How many times
have we seen in the Old Testament studies that names mean something? Both the names Zeba and Zalmunna
mean deprived of protection. Both of their names mean deprived
of the sacrifice. That's proof that their doom
is certain. So it is with all who are without
Christ. They're deprived of a sacrifice,
Christ being the only perfect sacrifice that God will accept.
They're both without the protection of a substitute. They don't have
a substitute, those who are without Christ. Without Christ, they'll
face the God of heaven and earth, wrath and justice. What a horrific
thought. to go out and meet God without
a sacrifice and a substitute. Gideon and his army picture the
people of God and his church. The church is weary. She's faint,
yet she's pursuing, but she never gives up. Why? Her strength in
the Lord. That's what kept Gideon and these
300 men going. And her need is simple. She needs
bread. She needs Christ, the bread of
life. She needs Christ, who's the river of living water. Christ
is her sustenance. Christ is her life. She doesn't
seek help from the world. She seeks help from those she
believes to be her brethren. That's why we don't forsake ourselves
at the assembling together for worship. We're here to learn
more of Christ and grow in the grace and the knowledge of Him,
but we're here to encourage one another. Secondly, in verses
six through eight, we have the response of the princes of Succoth,
that's the second thing, echoed by the men of Peniel. In verse
six, it says, and the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands
of Ziba and Zalmunna now in thine hand that we should give bread
unto thine enemy? You see, an interesting note
here is in the days of the judges, when enemies were captured, they
used to cut off their hands. And so that they would never,
first of all, they'd never be able to fight again. And they
also, this also, the cutting off of hands served as a warning
and a deterrent to other potential enemies. And Gideon, as the chosen
judge of Israel, had every right to expect help from Succoth and
Peniel. While they were of the tribe
of Gad, of the 12 tribes of Israel, the Midianites had plagued them
as they had, the same as they had Gideon and all the other
tribes. Succoth and Peniel had everything
to gain by helping Gideon defeat the Midianites, but they forgot
God. They forgot that God kept every
promise. The two cities were, as I said,
of the tribe of Gad. And they, along with the Reubenites
and half the tribe of Manasseh, if you remember, they're the
ones that remained on the other side of Jordan. When they went
to cross over, they said, we like this land over here. This
is good for our cattle. This is good for our business.
They were more concerned with prosperity. They loved the world,
and the land was better suited for raising their cattle. And
the name Succoth actually means booths, B-O-O-T-H-S. That was the place, if you remember,
where Jacob put up booths, put up pens for his cattle when Esau
came out to meet him. And it was named Succoth because
of that. And the tribe of Ged, along with
the Reubenites and half the tribe of Manasseh, were thinking only
of themselves when they wanted to stay on that side of Jordan. They'd forgotten the Lord. And
it seems as if they didn't believe that this was really their fight. They wanted to remain neutral
just in case the Midianites were successful against Gideon. What
unbelief, what unfaithfulness. Over and over and over again
in the scriptures, God's people are warned, beware that thou
forget not the Lord thy God. Don't let your heart be lifted
up and forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out
of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. Don't you forget. Don't you forget. And in verse
seven, and Gideon said, therefore when, Not if, but when. Therefore when the Lord hath
delivered Ziba and Zalmunna into mine hand, he's gonna deliver
them into my hand. No matter what you or anybody
else thinks. I know there's just 300 of us, but we've already
taken care of hundreds of thousands. And it's not a matter of if,
but when. God delivers Ziba and Zalmunna
into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of
the wilderness and with briars. Most every time the words thorns
and thistles and briars is used in the scriptures, it has to
do with the curse. When Adam was cursed and sent
out of the garden, He said, you're gonna make your living out of
the sweat of your brow and out of the thorns and the thistles
of the earth. And the wages of sin, the curse, is death. And
what's their response? It's the response of many professing
believers today. It's a response of unbelief.
That's what unbelief is. It's a response men make when
they see, as to what they see, rather than a response of what
God has promised. That's what faith is. That's
believing God and what He's promised. Not what we see, not what we
think, not what we... Look at the odds to be. Paul
wrote in Romans chapter three, for what if some did not believe,
shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
God forbid. Yea, let God be true in every
man alive. Men's unbelief never makes God's
faithfulness ineffective, never. Absolutely not. And faith doesn't
have any options, friends. Faith obeys God. Unbelief doesn't. Regardless of how things look,
faith believes God. Unbelief waits to see how things
turns out. Faith gives bread. Faith without
works is dead. These men didn't have any faith.
And that's seen in their response. They loved the world and the
things of the world, and it cost them their lives. Unbelief is
the one thing that will. You know that? Unbelief is the
one thing that'll cost you your life. It's the one thing that
God will not forgive. Unbelief. And it was the same
with the men of Peneo. Look at verse eight. And he went
up thence to Peneo, and he spake unto them likewise. And the men
of Peneo answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him.
And he spake unto the men of Peneo, saying, when I come again
in peace, I'll break down this tower. Now the Tower of Peniel,
undoubtedly they had this big high tower there, and it represents
the high tower men make of their own will and work and worth and
way. And our Gideon, our champion,
the Lord Jesus, gonna break it down. Any high tower a man makes,
he's gonna tear down. The word tower means a castle. It also means a bed of flowers. I thought that was pretty interesting.
That's what man makes for himself. He makes a castle of refuge. It's his bed of flowers. But the true child of God has
but one refuge. The Lord is our strong tower
and the righteous runneth into it and is safe. Proverbs 18. Verse 10, Now Zeba and Zalmuna
were in Karkor and their hosts with them, about 15,000 men,
all that were left of the host of the children of the east.
For there fell 120,000 men that drew a sword. As I alluded to
a minute ago, they killed themselves. And Gideon went up by the way
of them that dwelt in tents on the east side of Nobal and Jogbehal. and smote the host where the
host was secure. That simply means that they were
confident that they were now safe, that they were in hiding,
that they'd outrun Gideon and everything was okay. And here's
another interesting observation having to do with names. Ziba
and Zalmuna are in Karkor and that name means foundation. No matter where you go, and try
to hide from God, there is no safe or sure foundation other
than the Lord Jesus Christ. They were sitting there in car
core and they're like, okay, we're safe now. All's good. We've
made it. We've outrun them. We've hid
from them. And we've got us a good foundation
here. No. No, there is no foundation other
than the Lord Jesus. For other foundation can no man
lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians
3.11. So Gideon goes on, goes away
that the Midianites would not expect, and he defeats these
15,000, and the two kings take off running again, and he pursues
them, and he captures them. Now look at verse 12. And when
Ziba and Zalmunna fled, he pursued after them, and he took the two
kings of Midian, Ziba and Zalmunna, and discomfited all the hosts.
And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun was
up." God made quick work of this. And he caught a young man of
the men of Succoth. and inquired of him, and he described
unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even
threescore and seventeen men." Now I want you to think about
this for a minute. Gideon finds this young man and
he takes him aside and he's inquisitive. He asks him some questions. Who
are these princes and these leaders in Succoth? And he receives the
names and addresses. of these young men and he writes
them down. And this Gideon shows great wisdom
and he shows strict justice. These men are going to be destroyed.
Not the innocent with the wicked. He's taking the names of those
that were guilty. Isn't that what the Lord does?
The Lord knows who He is. The Lord knows how to save His
people. The Lord knows how to spare His people, and He knows
how to punish the wicked. They're written in a book. It's
the Lord's book. And then thirdly, we see the
consequence of sucketh and pennieth's actions. There's always a consequence
to unbelief. Always. Be not deceived, God
is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, he shall
also reap." I wonder if we would often do the things we do if
we kept that in mind. Oh, I'm going to reap what I
sow here. God help us to keep that in mind. We don't want to
do anything that would be dishonoring to the Lord and bring reproach
upon ourselves. In verse 15, Gideon came unto
the men of Succoth, and he said, I can just picture this in my
mind, he rides into their camp with these two kings, and he
said, Behold Zima and Zalmunna, with whom you did upbraid me. You remember just a day or so
ago when you said, Are the hands of Zima and Zalmunna now in thine
hand? That we should give bread unto
thy men that are weary? Here they are. I told you what
I was going to do. Gideon brings to Succoth these
two kings, and he's going to show these princes of Succoth
and the men of Peneo firsthand what the Lord has done. And that's
what preachers do. We endeavor to show men what
the Lord has done. Since they're determined to walk
by side, God's going to show them that these things show them
these things before he condemns them. You gonna walk by sight?
Okay, here you go, you see them? The Lord delivered them into
my hand, just as he said he would, just as I told you he would.
So Gideon takes these 77 men, these elders whose names were
written down. Verse 16 says, and he took the
elders of the city and thorns of the wilderness and briars
And with them, he taught the men of Succoth. He made the other
men of Succoth to know the consequence of unbelief. And in verse 17,
and he beat down the tower of Peneo, and he slew the men of
the city. Now we're not told how Gideon
used these thorns and briars. Some of the commentators believe
that he covered them with these thorns and briars and all and
then ran over them with wagons or chariots, I don't know, we're
not told, but I do know this. Thorns and briars not only picture
the curse, as I mentioned a minute ago, but they also illustrate
the cares of the world that choke out the gospel. And what a picture
we have here of the Lord destroying those who do such things. Gideon
also tore down the tower of Peniel that they put their trust in. You see, Christ, as I said, is
the only high tower that a sinner can put any trust in. To trust
in another brings about certain death. And an interesting note
here is that the men of Succoth and Peniel faced God's wrath
before the kings of Midian did. You know, little things we don't
see at first. But He brings them back to the
men of Succoth and Pentio to show them God's deliverance,
their deliverance into Gideon's hands. And I thought as I read
that, if you're not of God, then you're against Him. To refuse
to help God's servants and to help God's people is to be God's
enemy. Rebelling against God's chosen
leader is the same as assisting the enemy. They were just as
guilty, in some ways even more so. Succoth and Peniel's sin
of hardness of heart toward their brethren was treason against
God. And that's the way God took it.
And that's how God dealt with it. Verse 18, then said he, Gideon
unto Zeba and Zalmuna, What manner of men were they whom you slew
at Tabor? And they answered, as thou art. So were they, each one resembled
the children of a king. Now Gideon's father, from what
I've been able to read and look at in Jewish history, was wealthy
and he resembled a king, and Gideon and his brethren dressed
as princes. In verse nine, And he said, they
were my brethren. These men that you killed in
Tabor, they were my brethren, even the sons of my mother. And
as the Lord liveth, if you had saved them alive, I would not
slay you. You see, he wasn't obligated
by the law of God to put them to death. They were considered
prisoners of war. They were not required to be
killed. But because they were murderers and had slain the Israelites,
his own brethren, in cold blood, they deserved to die. And since
they had slain Gideon's own brethren, he was their avenger of blood.
And Gideon, according to the law of God, had the right to
avenge their death. In verse 20, and he said unto
Jether his firstborn, his oldest son, he said, up and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword,
for he feared, because he was yet a youth. You see, being the
near kinsman of his father's brethren, Gideon's son was a
proper person to avenge their death. Plus it was a real dishonor
for these two kings to die by the hand of a youth. I was thinking
we can't expect those that are young in the faith and in the
Lord to act as mature believers. This young lad hadn't yet fully
experienced the evil within man. He had a great deal yet to learn.
And we must be patient with young believers as they grow in grace
and the knowledge of the Lord. But look at verse 21. Then Ziba
and Zimunah said, rise down and fall upon us, for as the man
is, so is his strength. And this is what these two kings
desired. They chose rather to die by the
hand of a great man like Gideon. You see, it was more honorable
for them to die than to die by the hand of a youth. And I, again,
as I considered this, I thought even in their death, they were
selfish. They said, for as the man is, so is his strength. And
what they meant by that was this. Gideon had the strength to kill
them with one blow, just one swipe of the sword cut off their
head. And they knew that that young
boy might have to hack on them for a while before he killed
them. And this would bring about a
lingering and painful death. So they're thinking of themselves
even in there. And again, verse 21, and Gideon
arose and he slew Ziba and Zalmuna and he took away the ornaments
that were on their camels' necks. And then when Gideon arrived
back home, he was honored as a true hero. With only 300 men,
he had defeated the army and returned with the spoils, and
that brings us to the fourth thing I want you to see, and
that's the depravity of men. even when they're God's people.
You know, the Lord saves us by His grace, and we have the very
righteousness of Christ that we deal with this old nature
and this old man that is totally, completely depraved. Look at
verse 22. Then the men of Israel said unto
Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou and thy son, and thy son's
son also, for thou hast delivered us from the hands of Midian. Wrong. No, they hadn't. The Lord had. The Lord had delivered
them. And Gideon said unto them, I
will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. Look
at those last words. The Lord shall rule over you. They wanted to make Gideon their
king. This was a natural response. And it actually proved their
depravity. knowing it was the Lord who had
triumphed, knowing it was the Lord who had defeated the enemy.
Knowing all these things, they still desired to have an earthly
king instead of recognizing the Lord of lords and the king of
kings as their king. This desire by the people was
actually blasphemy. God being their ruler, God being
their protector, He was the one that separated God's people from
the rest of the world. Earthly kings are not to be desired
by the people of God. They desire for a visible human
king. Their desire for a human visible
king reveals that they desire to be just like the rest of the
world. You remember when Saul was made king? God told the prophet
not to anoint a king. He was their king. He was their
monarch. He was their one and only potentate. But they had to have a king,
and they got Saul, and he wasn't a good king. God gave them what
they wanted. I don't want God to give me what
I want. God's people have but one king. King Jesus. Gideon said, the Lord shall rule
over you. This was something that Israel
struggled with all throughout their history. Over and over
they desired an earthly king. They needed a government other
than God's. Christ is the head of the church,
friend. He's the king of kings. He's
the Lord of lords. And how comforting it is for
us to know that the Lord rules over us. Gideon knew it, and
you and I, by God's grace, know that we know it's the Lord that
rules. In closing, I want to read a passage found in 1 Chronicles. I want to turn you there, three
verses. Listen carefully to these words. 1 Chronicles 29, verses 11 through
13. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness
and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. For all that is in the heaven
and in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord.
Thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come
of Thee, and Thou reignest over all, and in Thy hand is power
and might, and in Thy hand it is to make great and to give
strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank
Thee, and praise Thy glorious name. Let me dismiss with a word
of prayer. Lord, we thank you that you are
our king. The victory, the glory, and the
majesty is all yours. Heaven and earth is your kingdom. You are our king. All we have comes from you. All
power and might is yours to give. You lift up, you bring down. You kill and you make a lot. You give the strength that your
people need. And Lord, we thank you and praise
you. As our King. Thank you, Lord, for all that
you've done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's in his
name that we pray and ask these things. Amen.